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' Patented June 3, 1930 when ALFRED BURNS, or" nas'rnnivirron,rirnssaonusnrrs, nssrenon 'ro wns'r stresses manuraorunrne coMrAiiY,TION on MASSACHUSETTS METHOD OF No Drawing.

7 This inventioh relates to the manufacture of printed woven fabrics andespecially to the manufacture of those in which the pattern is printedon the warp threads'before they are drawn into the loom and woven intocloth. 7

According to one method which has been commonly employed in themanufacture of printed fabrics of this type the webof warp threadsfrom'which the fabric isfmade is first drawn into a loom and woventogether with widely separated filling threads, (about two picks to theinch is a common practice for this purpose), and then the web of warpthreads thus woven together is passed through a printing machine bywhich the desired pattern is printed thereon.v After the printingoperation itis necessary to steam the warp threads in order toproduce afast color and when the printed warps have been steamed and dried andotherwise treated they are then wound on a warp beam preparatory tobeing drawn in to the loom for the weaving of the printed fabric.

web of warp threads can be wound on the warp beam, however, it isnecessary to depick said w b, this term referring to the operation ofremoving the temporary filling threads which have been woven into theweb of warp threads prior to the printing-operation. I a I The purposeof thus weaving these temporary filling threads into the warp threads isto-hold each individual warp thread in its proper position relative tothe other warp threads during the operation of steaming and drying andany other operations between that of printing and winding the warpthreadson the warp beainof the loom.

In order to thus weave Before the of warp threads is necessary to drawthe web lhis drawing into the harnesses of a loom. in operatlon 1s aslow web of warp threads. Moreover, considerable time is necessarilyrequired in weaving the temporary filling into the web 'ofrwarp threads.

and thus saves "This header, which may the temporary fill ing threadinto the web of warp threads it and tedious one, as is also the otheroperation of de-picking the or nasrnanrron, ivmssnoiinsnrrs, A 'conronn-MAEEIEG rnin'rnn FABRICS Application filed. December 5,1928; Serial No.324,069.

invention is to provide. a novel method of printing the web-of warpthreads and han= dling said threadspreparatory to winding them on thewarp beam of the loom which avoids the necessity of vweaving the.temporary filling into the web of the time consumed the web of threadsinto the loom in which the temporary filling is woven, weaving saidfilling into the web and then (lo-picking the web. d

In accordance with myinvention I provide a web of warp threads fromwhichthe print ed fabric is to be made and-I first form 'a so-called headeron one end'of this web.

inches wide, may COIIVGlllQlltlY-bl formed by a weaving operation, thatis, a filling thread may be interlaced with the warp threads either byhand or by a loom to form a woven band or head of the desired widthwhich extends acrossthis web and ties all the warp threads together.This header may be formed on the end of the web of warp threads whilesaid web is'wound on awarp beam.

After the webof warp threads hasthus been providedwiththe header, saidweb is unwound from the warp beam and passed through aprinting machineby which the do sired pattern is printed thereon. During the printingoperation the individual threads are entirely disconnected fromeaoh;other except at the very end-wherethe header is woven. The warp threadsare simply drawn from the warp beam in parallel relation through theprinting machine, which prints the desired pattern on the web.

The printed warp threads aretaken from the printing machine in web form,and they 1 are then formed into a warp chain in any usual way, and whilein the form ofthe warp chain they are subjected to the steaming, dryingand any otherdesired operations preparatory to the beaming After thewarp threads in, warp chain formation have been thus processed, thewarpchain is converted back into web formation in which each individual warpthread has the samefposition relative to' theother. Warp threads bothlongitudinally and as 5 warpithreads in drawing be six or eight Ioperation.

it had when passing through the printing machine. This web is then woundon a warp beam of a loom in a manner usually employed for warp beamingor slashing.

I find that the necessary handling of the warp chain involved in thesteaming, drying and other operations does not appreciably disturb theproper relation of the individual printed warp threads to each other sothat when the printed warp threads are taken from the 0 rain form andwound on the warp beam the individual warp threads will remain incorrect relation to each other both laterally and longitudinally so thatthe pattern which has been printed on the web will not be distorted. Inother words, the pattern as it appears on the web of warp threads thatis wound on the warp beam from'the warp chain will appear undistortedand for all practical purposes will be as perfect as it appears on theweb of warp threads as it leaves the printing machine After the printedwarp threads have been wound on the warp beam above described then theymay be drawn into the loom on which the printed fabric is to be wovenand the weaving of the printed fabric may then proceed as usual.

The formation of the heading at the end of the web of warp threads isimportant as this holds the ends of the individual warp threads inproper relation and enables the web of warp threads to be introducedinto and carried through the printing machine without any shifting ofthe warp threads relative to each other and it also maintains theindividual warp threads in proper relative position when the warp chainis being handled preparatory to rewinding the warp threads on the warpbeam of the loom. Because the warp threads are thus tied together at oneend by the header they are held in proper relation to each other duringthe start of the winding of the warp threads from the warp chain ontothe warp beam of the loom and as the winding continues the warp threadswill pass from the chain formation back to the web formation withoutlosing their correct relative positions or causing any appreciabledistortion of the pattern which has been printed on the warp threads.

With my invention, therefore, it not necessary to perform thepreliminary weaving operation involved in inserting the temporaryfilling with its consequent de-piclring operation, both of whichoperations con sume a good deal of time and consequently slow upproduction.

I claim:

1. The method of preparing a printed warp for use in'making a printedfabric which consists in weaving a header on the end of a web of warpthreads, the warp threads of said web being otherwise disconnected fromeach other, printing the desired pattern on the warp threads while inweb form, forn'iing the printed web into a warp chain, subjec ing thewarp chain to steaming and drying operations, converting the warp chainprogressively back into web of warp threads which have the same relativearrangement both longitudinally and laterally as they had during theprinted operation, and winding said web onto a warp beam.

2. The method of preparing a printed warp for use in making a printedfabric which consists in weaving a header on tne end of a web of warpthreads, the warp threads of said web being otherwise disconnected fromeach other, passing the web through a printing machine by which thedesired pattern is printed on the warp threads while they are in webformation, forming the printed web into a warp chain, subjecting thewarp threads while in warp chain formation to various operations to fixthe color of the printed pattern and to dry the warp threads, convertingthe warp chain back into a web of warp threads in which any portion ofany thread has tie same position both longitudinally and laterally ofthe web rela tive to the other threads as it had when the pattern wasbeing printed on the web, whereby the pattern will appear on the web inundistorted form, and then winding said web onto the warp beam of a loomand without distorting the pattern printed thereon.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ALFRED BURNS.

